Brief with pockets for thermal inserts

ABSTRACT

A disposable brief is provided with exterior front and rear pockets to receive and hold in position thermal packs, either hot or cold, at locations such as the lower abdomen, the crotch, the anal area or the lower back. The preferred brief is inexpensive and universal in that it may be worn by both males and females and is readily adjustable in size to fit various sizes of waists, hips or legs to reduce the inventory needed by an institution. The preferred disposable brief is in the form of a diaper that has a rear portion or panel that may be slid under a prone patient&#39;s back, a crotch portion that may be pulled between the patient&#39;s legs, a front portion or panel that may be positioned over the lower abdomen and securable hip or waist portions such as adjustable straps to secure the brief to the patient and retain the thermal packs in position for a patient in bed or for a patient when ambulatory. The pockets are easily opened and the cold or hot packs may be easily inserted or removed from difficult locations such as behind a patient&#39;s back. The preferred brief is reversible so that what would be the rear portion can be positioned as a front portion on the patient, usually for the purpose of locating the pocket on the rear portion at a particular location on the abdomen to apply heat or cold to this location. The illustrated brief may have two or three pockets which are located at the crotch, a rear portion and/or a front portion of the brief. In other embodiments, an absorbent pad such as a sanitary pad is provided for use with the disposable brief. A hot or cold pad may be inserted into a pocket of the disposable brief having the sanitary pad to alleviate cramping if it occurs during the menstrual period. In a still further embodiment, an inexpensive brief or panty has an integral sanitary pad with the used brief and pad being discarded after a single usage thereof.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a disposable brief for use with males or females and may provide hot or cold packs to alleviate pain or to assist in healing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In hospitals or other places where there are patients who need thermal applications of cold or heat in or about the crotch, buttocks, lower back or lower abdomen, particularly for alleviating pain, to reduce swelling, or to increase circulation of blood at a heated area, the application of heat or cold to a particular area is often time consuming and relatively difficult. For example, in some applications, it is necessary to apply a cold pack, six to ten times daily and with some difficulty particularly if the cold or hot pack is being applied behind a patient who is lying on his/her back for most of the day. The patient may turn while sleeping or be required to walk two or three times daily; and it is desirable to hold in position a thermal insert while the patient is ambulatory without the thermal insert shifting such where it is no longer effective or where it shifts into a position at which it becomes uncomfortable. For instance, a postpartum patient may have a cold pack applied at the crotch to reduce the swelling and to ease the pain. A typical cold pack lasts a short time, e.g., 45 minutes or so and then it needs to be replaced. Postpartum women often experience lower back pain as well as pain at the crotch due to trauma experienced during the birthing process. Often it is desirable that postpartum women also be ambulatory at times. In addition to being applied to women, there is often a need for men who have had hernia; prostate operations or the like to have a cold pack insert positioned at the front crotch area. After other surgeries such as for hemorrhoids, tail bone operations, a hot or cold pack may be applied to a position on the rear side of the patient.

A typical practice of applying cold packs in hospitals today is to select an appropriate sized panty and tape a cold or hot pack insert in a general location and then to pull the panty over the patient's body along the legs by threading the legs through the openings in the panty. This shiffing of the legs and pulling of the panty may be painful for the patient, particularly where the patient is experiencing a lot of pain and leg movement acerbates this pain. Not only is it time consuming to pull such panties over the legs but it is also time consuming in that the sense that one or more nurses or medical personnel may be needed to apply the panty, particularly for very large or very heavy patients. Moreover, it is difficult to reposition the insert and to retape it in position particularly where the insert is located underneath the patient such as at the buttocks, anal area or lower back. Thus, it will be seen that it is usually difficult to insert a thermal insert and to remove a thermal insert without causing some pain to the patient or without a considerable effort on the part of the person doing the insert changing.

An inventory problem may occur in the hospitals where various different sizes of people having different sizes of waists, different sizes of hips and different leg sizes require a large inventory of sizes and/or shapes of panties for its patients. Moreover, separate kinds of panties are often inventoried exclusively for women and for men. That is, these panties are not universal for both men and women as is desirable to reduce the inventory. Also, there is a need for a universal brief for both women and men and which can be used to position cold or hot packs at various places such as the lower abdomen, the front crotch portion, the rear anal portion, or the lower part of the back near the tail bone. Additionally, there is a need for an improved brief that facilitates the ability of the person to easily change thermal inserts, preferably with one hand for patients lying in bed. There is also a need to be able to reduce inventory of panties used to hold such thermal inserts and to hold the thermal inserts in position with patient movement.

While institutional use of the disposable brief is described herein, there are needs and uses that do not involve being a patient or bedridden, as will be discussed and disclosed hereinafter, that could use a disposable brief.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with an illustrated embodiment, there is provided an inexpensive, disposable brief having pockets for receiving a thermal insert for the application of either cold or hot to the patient at a particular location. Preferably this is achieved at a low cost manner by a disposable brief which is made of low cost air permeable material having one or more pockets located on the exterior of the brief for receiving a thermal insert which are typically either a cold pack or hot pack. In some instances, the cold or hot pack will be a pocket of a chemical material that is manipulated to cause it to generate cold and thereby heat extraction or to generate heat for transfer to the patient.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention the thermal application brief is formed to be easily applied to a prone person because the brief has no leg portions through which a persons legs would have to be threaded which is particularly difficult for patients who have recently undergone surgery and experience more pain when moving the legs. As stated above, it is difficult and time consuming for medical personnel to lift the legs and thread them through the respective leg openings in the brief. In accordance with the preferred embodiment, a rear portion of a flat, diaper-like brief is slid underneath the buttocks of the reclining person without having to thread the same over the legs. A crotch portion of the brief is pulled between the legs of the person and then the front portion is laid over the front of the crotch and over the lower abdomen of the person. Then portions of the brief, such as, for example, straps on the brief are brought about the patient's hips or waist and fastened to secure the brief to the patient. Typically, an adjustable size for the brief is afforded by the straps, for example, the straps may be adjustable to hip sizes between 20 to over 60 inches. Thus, the inventory may be reduced very substantially by having very easy size adjustable brief which are usually fitted around the hips of the patient and which preferably can be applied to either women or men.

The preferred briefs provide an easy slipping in and slipping out by one person of a thermal pad into the insert pocket of the brief. In the preferred embodiment the outer panel of the pocket has a two level opening into the pocket. That is, the pocket is formed with an outer, lower panel edge which to allows the fingers of a person's hand palming an ice pack or the hot pack to slide down along the inner panel for the pocket and to push the outer pocket panel away from an inner panel of the brief and continue to slide the ice pack into the pocket. The thermal insert may be removed by shifting the outer pocket and edge with the fingers to secure it from the inner pocket panel and slipping a hand into the pocket to grasp the thermal insert and pull it out of the pocket. This is particularly important where there is a frequent change, for example, insertion at 30 to 45 minute intervals of a cold pack or a hot pack for 6 to 10 times per day. The ability for one person to do it fairly easily with the thermal pack being positioned relatively, precisely and held in position even when the patient gets up or when the patient moves about is a decided advantage to the patient, the care giver and the institution, if the patient is disposed in an institution.

In the preferred embodiment the brief is made inexpensively and is made with a very open mesh fabric that is air permeable and breathable. For instance, an inexpensive mesh cloth fabric having a relatively open weave to provide good heat transfer may be used. Also, non-woven and non-cloth fabrics may be used rather than a cloth fabric.

In accordance with an important aspect, it is preferred that the brief is made to be reversible or more universal in that a front panel might be shifted to the back or the rear side of the patient to become a rear panel and a rear panel may be shifted from the rear to become the front panel for the patient so that the pockets on the respective front and the back of the briefs may be also reversed. More specifically in the preferred embodiment illustrated herein, there is a lower crotch pocket on the front panel and when shifted from adjacent the front of the crotch to the rear of the crotch be at an anal area. On the other hand, an upper rear exterior pocket for being positioned adjacent the tail bone of a patient which when reversed will be up adjacent the lower abdomen of a patient so as to receive a ice or cold pack wherever it is needed at a location near the abdomen. Additionally, the brief can be shifted sideways on the patent to pull one side up or down and thereby shift the pocket to one side or to the other side slightly to position the pocket and its insert to one side or the other relative to a center line through the body of the patient.

In accordance with another embodiment, the disposable, thermal insert brief may be provided with three pockets, viz. a front upper pocket, a crotch pocket and a rear pocket. In a still further embodiment, the disposable, thermal insert brief may be provided with an absorbent pad which may be placed at the inner side of the crotch position and secured in position, preferably by some fastening devices such as, for example, stretchable straps on the interior side of the panty. Of course, the pad may be adhered in position by adhesives or made integral with the thermal insert brief. Thus, the brief with an absorbent pad may be used by women to absorb fluids and to receive a hot pack to apply heat to try to reduce accompanying cramping pain. The entire brief and pad are inexpensive and may be discarded after use, which will be preferred by many women to avoid having to handle and wash a soiled panty.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a disposable brief having pockets or the like receiving a thermal insert and constructed in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of a thermal pack for insertion into a front pocket of a disposable brief construed in accordance with another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of insertion of a thermal pack into a rear pocket of a disposable brief;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of another embodiment having an absorbent pad inserted into the crotch portion of the disposable brief and held in position by elastic straps;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a disposable brief with a crotch pocket for receiving a disposable sanitary pad; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a disposable brief with an integral pad with both the pad and the brief being disposed of after a single usage thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with the illustrated embodiment, a disposable thermal brief 10 is formed to be applied to a patient to receive and to position a thermal insert 12 at a location to medically benefit the patient. The thermal insert is typically a heat producing insert or a cold producing insert to withdraw heat from or to apply heat to the patient at one or more locations on the patient's crotch, buttocks, lower back, e.g., at the tail bone or lower abdomen. Herein, the brief is applied to the patient lying face up on a bed by sliding a rear portion or panel 14 of the brief under the patient's buttocks by slightly raising the patient's buttock from the bed. Then, a crotch portion 16 of the brief and a front panel or portion 18 of the brief is threaded between the patient's leg and the front panel is positioned upwardly of the crotch. Then, a waist or hip encircling portion 20 is positioned about the patient's hips or sides to be secured in front at the lower abdomen of the patient to retain the insert in position.

Herein, the encircling portion is preferably one or more straps 20 a, 20 b that extend between the rear panel 14 and the front panel 18 and are preferably adjustable in length so that one size of brief may fit many patient's of different waist or hip sizes, e.g., 20 to 60 inches in size. The preferred brief also have very large leg openings 22 that allow the diaper or brief to be secured about the people having different sizes hips or legs. This is contrast to a typical prior panty which has fixed leg sized openings and fixed hip receiving panty portions. A problem with such a prior art panty is that when being applied to a patient, the leg openings in the panty must be slipped over the feet and ankles of the user and then pulled upwardly about the legs to bring a panty crotch portion into the position at the crotch and to bring the rear panel portion to the buttocks. If a patient has had recent surgery or has recently given birth to a child, there may be a lot of pain involved and difficulty in doing such positioning of a panty into place if the panty containing thermal packets taped therein.

The preferred disposable brief 10 of the FIG. 1 embodiment is shown with long straps 20 a and 20 that are fastened to hooks such as Velcro hook pieces 27 a and 27 b. Herein, the round pieces of Velcro hook fabric are secured to upper portions of the front portion of the main panty panel and interconnect with the soft mesh fabric on the interior sides of the straps 20 a and 20 b. The straps 20 a and 20 b could have Velcro loop fabric portions sewn thereon but since the Velcro hooks will be used only several times, any destruction to the soft open weave fabric of the straps by the hooks is acceptable for a disposable brief. The embodiment of FIG. 6 shows a disposable brief with a single Velcro hook portion on a single strap on an adjustable panty having expansible gathered, fabric gussets 27 for a brief that has fixed size leg openings and is adapted to carry the integral sanitary pad 11 b.

A further problem with using non-disposable panties with fixed leg sizes is that they generally result in a large inventory of various different sizes of panties which are made to accommodate different sizes of buttocks, hips and legs whereas a single and more universal design is being provided with the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1. Moreover, because the preferred and illustrated embodiment is a disposable brief made in an inexpensive manner such that the brief can be discarded every day, twice a day, etc.

The thermal inserts are preferably received within in a holding or fastening device which may take various forms but herein is in the preferred shape of a retaining pockets 26 which are preferably formed to have an easy opening for allowing the nurse or the patient to easily insert or remove a hot or cold insert 12. In some instances, for example a cold pack insert is to be applied at a location of a tail bone operation in a rear pocket 26 a (FIG. 3) where the patient is shown standing. When the patient is prone, the patient's back needs to be lifted and the nurse or other medical personnel needs to access the rear pocket 26 a to remove the spent cold pack insert and to replace the same with a new cold pack insert 12. As will be explained in the preferred embodiment the nurse or practitioner can do this usually with one hand by using the fingers to separate an outer lower level edge, e.g., edge 31 for the rear pocket from the adjacent brief rear panel 14 while palming the insert (that is having the insert 12 lay on the palm) and sliding the fingers between the panels of the pocket to deposit the new insert between these pocket panels. This eliminates the need for the nurse to try to use several hands to lift the patient's buttocks from the bed, to open a pouch or pocket and then literally having to use a third hand to grasp and to insert a new thermal insert or to remove a spent old insert. This easy open pocket makes for much more of an efficient operation for the hospital and nurses and could easily be the cost justification for using the disposable, thermal insert brief. The rear pocket is formed by sewing another small fabric panel 25 at stitches 28 a, 28 b and 28 c to form three closed sides of the pocket.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, there is another or crotch pocket 26 b (FIG. 1) which is located at the patient's crotch to receive a cold or hot pack insert 12. Often there will have been a hernia operation, a prostate operation on a man or a need for a cold pack for a women who has had some vaginal surgery or who is in postpartum having delivered a child. A hot pack may be also desirable for women at this location. The cold pack at this location typically is used to alleviate pain and/or to reduce swelling.

It will be appreciated that the illustrated, disposable brief uses only a small amount of material or fabric because of the narrow width of the front portion 18, crotch portion 16 and rear portion 14 because there are no large fabric portions encasing the wearer's hips as in the typical panty. Moreover, this pocket brief can be reversed such that the rear pocket 26 a which was at a typical location for a tail bone may be positioned over the lower abdomen with the crotch pocket 26 b having been turned from the front crotch of the patient back to cover a portion of the buttocks and to position pocket 26 b at the rear anal portion of the patient for example, to apply a cold pack to a patient who has had hemorrhoid surgery.

The preferred crotch pocket 26 b is formed by a crotch panel 32 which may be a leak resistant, material such as a plastic panel that retains fluids with stitches 32 a, 32 b and 32 c securing three edges of the exterior crotch panel 32 to the interior brief panel. Herein, the crotch panel has a front opening edge 32 a that a person may push or pull away from the inner brief panel at the crotch. Typically, the crotch panel extends along the entire crotch area of the brief to where to rear edge 32 b of the crotch panel 32 is attached to the rear panel as by sewing, adhesive, etc. transversal across and to the brief panel.

Thus, the illustrated brief is particularly universal in its application in that not only it is literally adjustable for different sizes of hips, waists or leg sizes, it also can be reversed so that a pocket may be either in the front or the pack. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1, there is provided a third upper pocket 26 c which is disposed above the crotch pocket 26 b and which is located to receive a ice or cold pack.

As stated above, in this illustrated and preferred embodiment of the invention, the pockets are provided with a two level opening wherein the upper edge of an outer pocket panel which is spaced at a lower elevation than the upper edge of the brief panel. It may be desired to put an elastic band 55 about the upper edge of the pocket of a different color than the brief panel or the pocket panel to readily identify the location of the mouth of the pocket and to be easily stretched to admit the entry of the thermal pack. Thus the insertion can be done by one hand again by the fingers engaging the upper, outer elastic band 55 of the crotch pocket panel and separating it from the underlying brief panel with the thermal insert being in the palm of the hand and slid into the crotch pocket to be positioned at the crotch of the wearer. An upper edge of the third panel 56 for the upper front pocket 26 c is located at an opening 54 as best seen in FIG. 1 which is above the upper first panel portion. This respective exterior pocket panel 56 a is sewn at three side edges by stitches 56 a, 56 b and 56 c to the underlying brief panel.

The particular materials used for the various pieces of the disposable brief are selected such that the inner brief panel may be one piece and be easily stretchable for open mesh type fabric which is inexpensive and very air permeable and breathable usually formed with an open weave such that there is an easy heat transfer and moisture transfer across the fabric between the thermal pack, whether it is hot or cold, and the patient's skin which is touching or conforming to the inner surface of this main brief panel. If desired, an upper stretchable elastic band and may be provided at the upper edges of the main panel where the brief is to be secured about the hips to assist the straps 20 a, 20 b in retaining the brief in position with the thermal packs being retained in position when the patient is lying, standing or walking.

In accordance with another embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, a disposable brief 10 a may be provided with a sanitary pad or other pad 60 for collecting fluids at the crotch of the wearer. In FIG. 5, the crotch portion is provided with a retainer for the pad such as a pair of spaced, elastic bands 70 and 72 which are secured to the interior surface of the crotch portion. Ends of the sanitary pad are easily inserted under one of the elastic bands. The user can choose between thin and lightweight pad for days with less flow, while on days where flow is very heavy, a heavier pad may be chosen.

The disposable brief of FIGS. 4 and 5 may also be provided with pockets for receiving hot or cold pad inserts. Some women or younger girls at the onset of puberty experience abdominal cramping and/or lower back pain. The ability to insert a hot pack or cold pack may be desirable for such persons.

In accordance with a further embodiment, a disposable brief 10 b is illustrated in FIG. 6 with an integral, absorbent pad 116 that is integrally attached to the brief at the crotch area to collect fluids. The illustrated paid is a sanitary pad that is to be used to collect menstrual fluids. The brief may have an outer moisture or liquid retention ply 36 a to prevent the fluids from staining the clothing of the wearer. Thus, the user will dispose of both the brief 10 b and the pad after a single usage thereby avoiding the necessity to handle or wash a stained conventional panty

The brief 10 b preferably comes in different sizes such as small, medium, large and queen and has sanitary pads of different thicknesses such as thin pads for light flow days and thicker pads for absorption on heavy days. The brief 10 b is designed to be used by women who are not hospitalized or otherwise being cared for by institutional personnel, but as a substitute for the usually not disposable panty and sanitary napkins commonly used. As stated above, rather than having to separate the pad from the conventional panty and wash the stained panty, the entire disposable brief and integral pad may be discarded together after use thereof.

For some women, who experience cramps with their menstrual period, the disposable brief 10 b and its integral paid may also be provided with a front pocket 26 c to receive a hot pack to alleviate the pain of cramping. If the woman experiences lower pack pain, the brief 10 b with the integral paid may have a rear pocket 26 a to receive a hot pack to relieve pan at the lower back. Because of the easy open and easy sliding of a thermal pack into a pocket in the brief 10 b, a woman may readily insert a thermal pack when desired and easily remove a spent thermal pack without having to take off her outer clothes or her panties in a private place such as a bathroom.

Generally, the inner fabric is relatively stretchable so as to conform against the patient's body, e.g., a two to one stretch ratio of stretchability may be used. Herein, the thermal inserts may be an “instant hot pack” or “instant cold pack” made by Allegiance Health Care Corp., McGaw Park, Ill. 60005. The respective hot and cold pack inserts become activated when squeezed or manipulated and have a definite temperature range such that the cold packs do not usually burn or cause frost bite to the patient's skin and likewise the hot packs do not burn the patient's skin. On the other hand, it is possible to use ice rather than a chemical cold pack or a frozen cold pack as a thermal insert. Usually though, for ice, ice needs to be wrapped in an insulator fabric so that the skin does not become frost bitten or by being positioned very closely to the very cold temperature ice.

Other advantages and embodiments of the invention may differ from that disclosed herein and still fall within the purview of the appended claims. For instance, rather than pockets to retain the thermal inserts, other devices such as straps, adhesives, Velcro or the like could be used to hold the thermal inserts in place. 

1. A disposable brief to be worn by person receiving and holding a thermal insert comprising: a disposable brief made of an inexpensive, air permeable material for transfer of heat to or from a person; a front portion for positioning over a lower front torso portion of the person; a back portion opposite the front portion on the brief for positioning over the rear buttocks of a person; a front pocket on the exterior side of the front portion for receiving a thermal insert; and a rear pocket on the exterior side of the rear portion of the brief for receiving a thermal insert.
 2. A brief in accordance with claim 1 wherein the front pocket is located for positioning adjacent a person's crotch.
 3. A brief in accordance with claim 1 wherein the rear pocket is located higher on the brief than the front pocket.
 4. A brief in accordance with claim 3 comprising: the brief being reversible about the torso of the person so that the high pocket on the previous rear panel is now located adjacent a lower portion of the abdomen and the lower pocket on the front panel is now disposed at a lower position on the buttocks.
 5. A brief in accordance with claim 1 comprising: separable, adjustable straps extending between the front portion and the rear portion to allow the encircling of various widths of patients.
 6. A brief in accordance with claim 1 which has no leg portions to be threaded over the legs of the patient so that the rear panel may be slid beneath a lying patient and so that the front panel can be pulled upwardly between the patient's legs and brought towards the abdomen for securing the brief about a patient.
 7. A brief in accordance with claim 6 wherein the pockets are provided with easy accessible openings to allow the slipping in and slipping out of the insert by one person.
 8. A brief in accordance with claim 7 wherein the opening in the pocket is defined by a lower level edge on a lower outer pocket ply so that the lower level edge may be pulled to separate pocket ply from the inner poly to allow insertion of the thermal insert.
 9. A brief in accordance with claim 1 wherein the interior side of the pocket is formed with an air permeable material to facilitate heat transfer from the insert to the patient.
 10. A brief in accordance with claim 9 wherein the air permeable portion is formed of an open mesh fabric.
 11. A reversible brief in accordance with claim 1 comprising: securing straps for securing the front portion to the back portion and about the hips of the patent.
 12. A brief in accordance with claim 11 wherein the straps have adjustable connecting portions for adjusting the sides of the strap to fit a particular size of patient.
 13. A brief in accordance with claim 1 wherein an opening to the pocket comprises two levels of fabric with the lower panel being exterior and adapted to be pulled open with one hand while an insert is inserted into the pocket by the other hand.
 14. A disposable brief for holding a thermal insert comprising: a substantially flat fabric body; a crotch panel portion on the fabric body for placing beneath a patient; a rear panel portion attached to one end of the panel crotch portion and to be slid under a patient's back; a front panel portion attached to an opposite end of the crotch panel for being laid over the patient's lower abdomen; adjustable straps adapted to be wrapped about the patient's body and adjusted to different sizes of patients, the adjustable straps connecting the rear and front panels to form the brief; and a pocket on the exterior side of one of the panels to receive a thermal insert.
 15. A disposable brief for receiving a thermal insert for application to a person comprising: a fabric body for the brief; a front panel on the fabric body for extending across the front crotch area of the person; a rear panel on the fabric body for extending across a portion of the buttocks of the person; adjustable straps moveable from an open position allowing the respective front and back panels to be applied without threading through the legs and for adjusting to a size of a person; and at least one exterior pocket on an exterior side of the brief for receiving a thermal insert therein.
 16. A brief in accordance with claim 15 wherein the pocket is on the front panel and wherein the pocket is comprised with an outer ply having an upper edge at a lower level than an inner ply of the pocket so that it is easy to insert a thermal insert into the pocket.
 17. A brief in accordance with claim 15 wherein the pocket is at the rear panel of the brief for receiving a thermal insert.
 18. A thermal application brief in accordance with claim 15 wherein the brief is a disposable brief.
 19. A brief in accordance with claim 15 wherein the front panel and rear panel are formed of open mesh fabric to provide an inexpensive, disposable brief.
 20. A disposable brief for menstruating women comprising: a brief body made of inexpensive fabric to be worn once and thrown away after usage; an integral crotch portion on the brief body for positioning at the crotch of the women; an integral sanitary paid permanently secured to the crotch portion of the brief body for absorbing fluids occurring while the woman is menstruating; and a non-separable connection between the pad and the brief body so that the spent pad and stained brief are discarded together after usage during a menstrual cycle.
 21. A disposable brief in accordance with claim 20 comprising: a pocket on the disposable brief body for receiving a thermal pack to alleviate pain or cramping.
 22. A disposable brief in accordance with claim 21 wherein the pocket is located on a front side of the brief body.
 23. A disposable brief in accordance with claim 21 wherein the pocket is located on a rear side of the brief body.
 24. A disposable brief in accordance with claim 21 comprising: a second pocket on the disposable brief body for receiving a thermal pack. 